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Lleyton Hewitt came agonisingly close to pulling off a major miracle at Wimbledon overnight, while across the Atlantic Aussie golfers Marc Leishman and Oliver Goss are on top of the Congressional leaderboard at the halfway mark.
Hewitt resumed his battle with beanpole Jerzy Janowicz, the Polish 15th seed, after their match had been interrupted by rain the previous night.
The Pole led 7-5 4-4 overnight, and quickly wrapped up the second set in two games before you could blink.
Then the renowned Hewitt fightback routine kicked in, despite the fact he was being pinned to the back wall by a powerhouse Janowicz serve, whose forehand was also lethal.
But Hewitt won the third set by making only five unforced errors while he forced Janowicz into 2-2 and as a result won the set in a tie-breaker.
That momentum carried over to the fourth set where Hewitt copped a code violation at 2-all when he yelled “sit” in a tense moment. Hewitt protested. but central umpire Fergus Murphy warned Hewitt not to yell out anything to sounded like an unacceptable word.
Hewitt was ropeable, and it steeled him to take the fourth set 6-4 by making only two unforced errors to 11, and winning 33 points to 27.
Sadly Hewitt ran out of steam in the decider to be broken twice. He broke back once, but it was all too late.
In a tick under four hours, Hewitt went so close to joining his giant-killing compatriot Nick Kyrgios in the third round.
Two Australians in the Wimbledon men’s third round hasn’t been achieved since 2007 when Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs qualified.
Teenager Kyrgios, the only Australian left, meets journeyman Czech Jiri Vesely tonight as the first cab off the rank on Court 17.
Victory there will probably set up a fourth round clash with Rafael Nadal, if the Spaniard gets his game into gear.
Marc Leishman and Oliver Goss have their game into gear at 6-under to be on top of the Congressional leaderboard with American Rickey Barnes, with another Aussie Stuart Appleby one shot off the pace.
For Goss it was a memorable performance in his first tournament as a pro. The Perth youngster did well in the US Open for the first three rounds until the wheels fell off, having qualified as the runner-up in the US Amateur.
On the unforgiving Congressional layout, Leishman and Goss have both fired in nine birdies, and three bogeys, Appleby nine birdies and four bogeys.
Other Australians to make the cut, Geoff Ogilvy and Brady Watt at even par, and Steve Bowditch with Greg Chalmers on 2-over.
Chalmers and Tiger Woods are the story of the first 36 holes.
Chalmers was the sole first round leader on 66, but crashed with a 78 in the second round with two birdies, seven bogeys, and a double to just make the cut.
Woods was having his first tournament in 100 days after back surgery, and was all over the course. He finished the 36 holes with 7-over, his worst USPGA halfway result in 313 starts.
Woods missed the cut by four shots after shooting seven birdies, 12 bogeys, and a double.
Playing partner Jason Day also missed the cut with 4-over, Aaron Baddeley 5-over, and Robert Allenby 8-over.
So tonight we follow Nick Kyrgios, Marc Leishman, Oliver Goss, and Stuart Appleby.